<p>I've always wondered about this and it'll be great to hear from alumni interviewers. If the interviewer communicated by email, is it okay to send the thank you note via email? I told my son that sending a note via snail mail seems more appropriate than email. What do you think?</p>
<p>I am not an interviewer but a parent whose D used email to thank alumni and staff interviewers and is now using email to thank job interviewers. It seems fine. If the interviewer communicated by email in the first place, I would, in fact, think it is the preferred method. (My D occasionally gets thank you emails for interviews that she does in another capacity, and is very pleased to get them. An obvious caveat is to make sure to send the email in a formal, carefully spelled and phrased way, as you would any paper business letter.</p>
<p>I usually get the thank you via e-mail since they have my e-mail already, and I don't give them my snail mail address. Others may have a different opinion, but I would value a thank you note after an interview regardless of how I received it.</p>
<p>I really like getting either kind. I usually write the kid up soon after I see them so the note doesn't factor in to whatever I say, although the kids taking the time to write notes would tend to have good social skills evident in the interview anyway.</p>
<p>Thank you for all your responses. My son was quite happy to say, "Mom, I told you so." :)</p>
<p>Snail mail (if they have my home address or can get it easily) because it seems more thoughtful and courteous. E-mail is better than nothing, however, which, unfortunately, is what most students send.</p>
<p>Being an interviewer takes as much time or even more time than, for instance, picking out a present for someone, so I think that just like one typically would snail mail a thank-you for a gift, the same should be true for how one expresses appreciation for an interview.</p>
<p>I don't care how the thank-you is sent. My guess is that there will be a generational pattern here -- an interviewer under age 30 is very unlikely to be put off by an email, but someone in his or her 60's is more likely to prefer snail mail.</p>
<p>Since the students only have my email and not my home address, e-thanks are welcome - although, as Northstarmom noted above, very rare. Of the 12 students I contacted this year, only one followed up with an email thank-you.</p>
<p>flatlander, I am actually surprised (and disheartened) that only 1 out of 12 followed up with an email thank you. I really thought students would think of doing this right away, especially with the work and time involved on the interviewer's part.</p>
<p>It gets worse every year. Of the 12 I intitially contacted by email introducing myself and inviting them to get together, only three replied within 48 hours. I followed up with phone calls a week later - only one apologized for not getting back to me! (Typical response: "Oh yes, I got your email, but I've been very busy....") I interview for a highly selective LAC, and I'm astounded students do not follow up with me and at least acknowledge the email.</p>
<p>I asked one of the admissions officers whether they want to know when a student seems less-than-enthusiastic about replying, and he said absolutely.</p>
<p>From posts that occur on CC around the end of each Feb and early March, I learned that there are lots of students who apply to many top colleges, and then have to squeeze lots of interviews into their schedules. Instead of feeling grateful to the interviewers, the students feel annoyed at having to repeatedly field the same questions and juggle their schedules.</p>
<p>It doesn't seem to dawn on these students that the interviewers are busy people who are doing them a favor: The students aren't the ones doing the favor.</p>
<p>Sad.</p>
<p>Maybe it is a generational thing. To me, a handwritten note means a whole lot more than an email. Along a similar vein, one admissions officer and one interviewer from two different schools sent my high school senior a personal, handwritten note and both times it made really made a positive impression - much, much more than emails would have. I think it sends a message that the person really cares and has taken the time to write out a card, find a stamp, and go mail it. More effort = more impressive. Just my opinion.</p>
<p>flatlander: that is truly shocking; as a parent of an applicant who can't thank the interviewers enough, I wonder what these kids are thinking....Why bother interviewing at all if you are not planning on making a good impression that can possibly be relayed back to the admissions office? I'm sorry my d did not get to meet you; she would have stood out like gold.....</p>
<p>Mmomm: My daughter preferred hand written notes to her interviewers/people she met on campus for that exact reason.....While she is 100% a computer driven kid to arrange her visits, she believes that opening snailmail is much more significant than clicking open an e-mail letter......</p>
<p>I'll let you know if it really made a difference, though....still waiting on acceptances....</p>
<p>
[quote]
Instead of feeling grateful to the interviewers, the students feel annoyed at having to repeatedly field the same questions and juggle their schedules.</p>
<p>It doesn't seem to dawn on these students that the interviewers are busy people who are doing them a favor: The students aren't the ones doing the favor.</p>
<p>Sad.
[/quote]
I agree, NSM. In fact, one boy who sounded unusually annoyed to be contacted had that noted in my little report. Perhaps students don't realize that we are volunteers? </p>
<p>I rarely get thank-you notes. Since the student doesn't have my home address (and my very common last name would prevent them from being able to find it out easily), e-mail thank you notes are fine with me. It's unusual to get one.</p>
<p>One thing I always do is follow up with an e-mail to the student with any additional information or answers to questions that they requested during the meeting. I let them know what e-mail address I'll be using to send it to them. I'm surprised how often students don't even acknowledge the additional information!</p>
<p>I am really disappointed (but, I guess not surprised) that you interviewers get so few thank-yous!!! What are these kids thinking? </p>
<p>I continue to appreciate how my kids have turned out. D sent emails if she didn't have the snail mail address. However, as computer savvy/dependent as she is, she sends written thank yous all the time for gifts, etc.....and although she and her bf text, IM, and talk to each other every day, they also write "real" letters.</p>
<p>I, too, prefer snail mail but sending thank you emails has actually made one of my son's interviewers quite "accessible" for additional questions/comments. Since the email thank you note, they have exchanged a few emails, all related to the particular college.</p>
<p>Rodney, I wanted to bite my tongue when some of the students said they had been "too busy" to get back to me. "Yep," I wanted to say, "I'm a single mother who works fulltime outside the home and volunteers at least two hours per student (travel time + interview time + report writing time). I understand busy. And my senior daughter, who takes honors courses, swims on two swim teams, and works parttime? She's busy, too - but she managed to reply to emails and phone calls in a timely manner <em>and</em> send handwritten thank-you notes after the interviews. And your excuse again is.....?"</p>
<p>flatlander, I would be annoyed if those students said they were too busy. Arrgh. One LAC required that students "request" for an alumni interview on the college's website. This may be one way of putting the responsibility of initiating the interview on the applicant's end, and would also show level of interest. The college provided names and email addresses of alumni interviewers in the applicant's area, and it is up to the student to contact the interviewer. I think this works better for all concerned, and the college knows if you requested information and if you did not follow up with the interview.</p>
<p>I don't think my daughter would have realized she should send a note after an interview if I hadn't told her that she needed to! And I read it here on CC. She asked one interviewer for his address, and he wrote it down on a sheet of paper since he didn't have a card with him. I hope he was impressed with a hand-written note! She did send an e-mail thank you to an admissions rep who visited her school and spoke with her there.</p>
<p>It is funny, I am an interviewer and I really don't care about getting a thank-you note. I enjoy meeting with the kids and don't think it is a favor to them as much as to the University. In some ways I find writing thank-yous a little too over the top.</p>
<p>As for being busy, I have a lot of sympathy for kid's schedules. I know my daughter has an afterschool job and activities where the coach wants her there and won't take an excuse. If it takes a few weeks to get together with someone, so be it. I'm busy too, but don't expect them to drop everything on a moment's notice.</p>
<p>After all, this is really just an alumni interview, I think people take it far too seriously!!!</p>